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Genetic pioneer Lord Robert Winston says the technology that he helped develop now risks turning babies into "commodities".

The British test-tube baby doctor, who fronts television series such as The Human Body and the current Child of Our Time, gave a warning in Auckland yesterday against parents having a new baby specifically to use its tissues or body parts to save the life of a sick older sibling.

"It does raise important questions about whether society might be at risk of allowing babies to be used as commodities," he said.

"For me it's an ethical issue. You are subjecting an embryo to removal of cells for DNA analysis that is of no benefit to that embryo. That is having a medical procedure without any informed consent."

Lord Winston, who arrived yesterday to speak at a charity art auction for the Liggins Institute, is scathing about scientists such as the American Dr Panos Zavos who are using the new techniques for "Frankenstein" projects such as cloning the genetic material of two dead people to bring them back to life.

"It may...